The Great Barrier Reef is an incredible underwater
world hiding just beneath the water’s
surface, filled with coral, marine life and
vibrant tropical fish. There are remote islands,
reefs and coral cays to be visited. The Great
Barrier Reef is not actually one continuous
reef, but a series of thousands of individual
coral cays stretching over 1800 miles between
the town of Bundaberg and the tip of Australia
at Cape York.

At 4:00pm we boarded the Coral Princess II
(35m ship/50 passengers) at for a 4 Night Cruise from Cairns to Lizard Island
and then return south on the outer Great
Barrier Reef.

During the cruise, Lea, the Marine Biologist
gave talks about the natural history and
evolution of the reef, the local wildlife,
which includes sea turtles, giant clams,
rays and over 240 different species of native
birds and the history of the Aborigines.

There were lots of water activities directly
off the back of the boat - snorkelling,
scuba diving or underwater viewing from the
glass bottom boat.

We set off northward along Trinity Bay, past
Double Island and the beachside village of
Palm Cove towards Cooktown.